


Incomplete

by BatchSan



Category: Take Me to Church - Hozier (Music Video)
Genre: Falling In Love, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2015-06-04
Packaged: 2018-04-02 19:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4072381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatchSan/pseuds/BatchSan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pre-canon - Arkin moves back to his childhood hometown and rekindles an old friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Incomplete

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/gifts).



Arkin befriended Jace in the second grade, over juice boxes and cookies. They became best friends, jokesters, and big softies all in one silly pile. 

"Best friends forever?" Jace asked one night from the sleeping bag on Arkin's bedroom floor. 

"The bestest," Arkin assured, closing his sleepy eyes with a smile.

A month after his tenth birthday, Arkin's parents pick up and move halfway across the country. Jace stays behind with his father and an empty, incomplete feeling. He tells his dad he doesn't want to speak about it, ever. 

"Ever is a long time, son."

His father kisses his head and assures him he's always going to be there to talk. Jace remains silent. 

Thirteen years pass between the friends with little to no contact. Then Arkin moves back to his hometown, alone. He doesn't want to remember the car accident or his parents' caskets. He does, however, want to remember a time when they were alive and he thinks being here might help. 

He doesn't recognize the locals anymore and new businesses and buildings have sprung up everywhere, but he adjusts. The landmarks are the same -- the dam, the river, his old elementary school, and the tree he fell from when he was eight -- and it's enough for him. 

Until it isn't. 

Arkin walks into a pharmacy to get aspirins and a first-aid kit for his small apartment. He doesn't recognize the man behind the counter but the man recognizes him immediately. 

"Arkin?" The man's voice is mystified, as though the other man was a hallucination. 

"Yeah?"

A smile brightens the pharmaceutical assistant's face and it hits Arkin right in the gut because he never forget that smile.

"Holy shit, Jace?" Arkin ignores the hitch in his own voice. 

Jace comes around the counter and throws his arms around Arkin. Arkin wants to break in that moment; wants to lose himself to a flood of tears he'd kept hidden for years. It takes all his reserve to hug his old friend back with nothing but a bite of his lip and a nod. 

When Jace lets go, he looks embarrassed and apologizes. Smiling, Arkin claps his arm and shakes his head. "It's cool. I've missed you too, pal. Shit, I didn't even think you would still be living here."

"Dad's getting old so he appreciates the help around the house and stables," Jace replies as he takes his place behind the counter again. "We haven't had a horse in a year but he keeps saying he wants a new one, so, yeah. At least his vet business is still doing well. How are your folks doing?"

A lump forms in Arkin's throat and he's thankful Jace had rung up his purchase so he could duck his head down as he fumbled for money from his wallet. When he looks back up, Jace looks uneasy by whatever he sees on Arkin's face. 

"Shit, I'm sorry. When?"

"Eight months ago." Arkin's mouth is cotton dry around the three words. 

Jace hands Arkin a white plastic bag with his purchases and smiles softly. "I'm sorry," he says. 

Arkin gets the feeling he means it for multiple things but he just shrugs. "It happens, right?"

They stand uncomfortably in silence a moment before Jace clears his throat. "We should meet up and catch up soon. I'm free usually after work. We can do something - get a beer or whatever."

"Yeah, I'd like that." Arkin means it. 

They exchange phone numbers and promise to meet up soon. A month and a half goes by before Jace's phone beeps at him - it's a message from Arkin. 

_Meet me at the dam, around noon?_

Jace has lunch at one but his boss was cool with him doing it earlier. 

_i'll be there_

The dam is the most familiar thing to Arkin in this town. It brings him a warm comfort he had long been missing. He's staring at the dam when Jace shows up, stumbling slightly on the uneven earth beside the river. 

"It's nice to see things that haven't changed," Arkin says. He flicks the cigarette clip in his hand at the water. 

"Everything changes," Jace comments. 

"Maybe, but at least it's familiar. That hasn't changed."

Arkin pats out another cigarette from his pack and offers it to Jace. Thanking him, Jace sits beside the other man and lights it with a match, lighting Arkin's too when he leans over.

"We've changed," Jace says. 

"But we're still familiar to each other."

Jace smiles because, yes, that was definitely true. He didn't know this man sitting beside him but he remembered the boy and that was familiar. They don't speak again until Jace gets up to head back to work. 

"I've really missed you, J," Arkin says, looking up at him. 

There's something about that look that makes Jace's heart dance. 

"I've missed you too."

After that, they see each other more and more, falling right back into their old friendship. They share beers at Arkin's apartment, taking jabs at movies and arguing over sports. They go for walks around the local park and challenge each other to ridiculous basketball rules. And when Arkin finally visits Jace's father, the older man has tears in his eyes.

"My boy hasn't been the same since you left," he says one night after dinner when Jace has gone to the bathroom. "Thank you for giving my son back to me."

Arkin doesn't know what to say to that, offering an embarrassed smile. It makes him realize that he hadn't been himself since he left either.

"Let me show you something," Jace says the next time Arkin is at his house. 

They head upstairs to his bedroom - Arkin notes it hasn't changed much since they were kids - where Jace pulls a small metal chest from the back of his closet. Arkin's eyes widen. 

"You kept it all these years?" Arkin asks, taking it when Jace hands it to him. 

"It used to be our treasure chest! No way could I throw away all those memories." Jace licks his lip. "Open it."

Arkin obeys, finding pictures of them together as boys. At school trips, playing sports, picnics with their families - those really get to Arkin. Beneath the pictures is a treasure map they drew the summer before Arkin left. There's a ribbon too, from a pie eating contest they won at a carnival in the next town over. 

Tears fill Arkin's eyes as he looks over the treasure trove of memories, his heart squeezing particularly hard when he picks up a picture from their last sleepover. They each had an arm around the others' shoulder and wore big goofy smiles. Arkin never had another sleepover after that. 

It's too much to take in all at once so he closes the chest softly and sets it on the bed beside him. Wiping his eyes with his sleeve Arkin looks up at Jace to see him standing still as though afraid to move. So Arkin takes the initiative and presses his friend against the wall with his lips and hands. He waits for a blow, a swear; anger. Instead Jace holds his face and kisses him back. 

For the first time in nearly fourteen years, they feel complete and it's overwhelming, in the best way.

**Author's Note:**

> So, wow. This isn't anything close to what was prompted but I tried to keep certain narrative things you liked and I really hope you enjoy it, Merfilly, because I wanted to write something not tragic about the couple in the video. However, I also posted this as a standalone and will soon post a follow up standalone that's to be set during/after the video for all your tragic needs.


End file.
